Recaps

Lin Ye completed the Luan Bird aerospace carrier platform and began designing the other technologies in the Nantianmen Project. The Firmament rated his beta Instance, The Great Wall Watch, Endless-level and approved its challenger-selection rules, leaving Lin Ye eager to launch it immediately.

• Lin Ye used Creation Space to create the Luan Bird aerospace carrier platform, a powerful aerospace carrier that convinced him the eight Settlements could not defeat the Great Xia Settlement.
• Lin Ye began designing the remaining vehicles and weapons in the Nantianmen Project with Creation Space.
• The Firmament reviewed The Great Wall Watch and awarded it Azure Star's first Endless-level Instance rating and a 30-day Super Double Points Card.
• The Firmament explained that the Instance's potential for future development earned its rating and approved rules allowing Lin Ye to designate Settlements for its first opening.
• Lin Ye asked the Firmament to put The Great Wall Watch into use immediately.

Lin Ye launched his Endless-level Instance, The Great Wall Watch, and designated the Universe Settlement for its first run. Great Xia’s leaders, encouraged by his move, planned to attack the Universe Settlement as well.

• Lin Ye selected the Universe Settlement, formerly the South Korea Settlement, as the first Settlement for The Great Wall Watch.
• The Firmament announced the Endless-level Instance and its designated target Above the Dome, prompting Azure Star to erupt in reaction.
• Li Yunlong and the other Great Xia leaders learned of Lin Ye’s move during their strategy meeting and celebrated its rating and target.
• Great Xia’s leaders agreed to attack the Universe Settlement the next day and coordinate a broader assault against the Korean Settlement.

Park Seong-man learned that Lin Ye’s Endless-level Instance had selected the Universe Settlement and would require two million participants, putting the Settlement in danger again. As he demanded a plan from his advisers, Choi Tae-won proposed sending the weakest challengers as cannon fodder.

• The Firmament notified Park Seong-man that the Universe Settlement had been selected for Lin Ye’s Endless-level Instance, with two million participants needed within twelve hours.
• Park Seong-man fell in his bath, then summoned Park Jeong-yong, Choi Tae-won, and Lee Jae-yong to the Commander’s office.
• Park Seong-man berated Lee Jae-yong for claiming Lin Ye was a commander without soldiers and demanded a plan for the Instance.
• Choi Tae-won argued that the Settlement should choose its weakest challengers because stronger people were too valuable to risk in the Endless-level Instance.

The South Korea Settlement leaders debated how to respond after Lin Ye designated them for the Instance The Great Wall Watch. Park Seong-man appointed Lee Jae-yong as commander and ordered him to recruit volunteers, with the Firmament to select the remaining fighters if needed.

• Choi Tae-won proposed sending Level 0 challengers into the Instance, but Park Seong-man rejected the idea as too dangerous politically.
• Park Jeong-yong suggested letting the Firmament choose the candidates, and Park Seong-man initially agreed.
• Lee Jae-yong warned that doing nothing would make the settlement look defeated and argued that they should send their elite forces into The Great Wall Watch.
• Park Jeong-yong and Choi Tae-won accused Lee Jae-yong of trying to sacrifice their families, until Park Seong-man stopped their argument.
• Park Seong-man named Lee Jae-yong the overall commander and ordered him to rally volunteers, with random selection as a fallback; Lee Jae-yong was horrified by the appointment.

After Koreans refused to volunteer for the Endless-level Instance, the Firmament randomly selected Challengers from the Universe Settlement and opened Earth Online: The Five Permanent Members' The Great Wall Watch. Lee Jae-yong entered the pre-battle countdown determined to survive and defeat Lin Ye.

• Lee Jae-yong failed to recruit volunteers, so Park Seong-man ordered the Park and Choi families to each send a hundred thousand people to assist him.
• The Firmament announced that moving out of the Universe Settlement would not prevent Challengers from being selected for the Instance.
• The Firmament randomly selected enough Challengers and opened the Endless-level Instance, deploying two million people to the virtual battlefield.
• Selected Challengers in the Universe Settlement panicked, while Lee Jae-yong prayed and convinced himself the beta version had exploitable loopholes.
• Spectators and top-ranked Dungeon Designers entered the Instance livestream ahead of the battle.

Top settlement leaders joined the livestream to condemn Lin Ye and Great Xia, but Lin Ye entered and challenged them over their campaign against him. He left after warning the major settlements to watch what happened to the Koreans and consider their choices.

• Fulangche, George, Brahma, and Arthur joined the livestream and accused Lin Ye of harming Azure Star while urging pressure on Great Xia.
• Great Xia viewers defended Lin Ye as the livestream filled with arguments between the settlements.
• Lin Ye entered the livestream and sarcastically agreed with the accusations, saying he wanted to kill more Koreans because they had taken his settlement.
• Lin Ye challenged the major settlement leaders to conquer his Instances instead of complaining, prompting angry replies from Fulangche, George, and Arthur.
• Lin Ye told the major settlements to watch what happened to the Koreans and weigh their options, then left the livestream.

Lin Ye left the livestream and entered Creation Space, intending to draw attacks onto The Great Wall Watch and earn points. Lee Jae-yong and two million challengers entered the Instance, where the Firmament revealed Dragon Country as their enemy faction, leaving the Goryeo challengers shaken.

• Lin Ye returned to Creation Space and decided to provoke the challengers into attacking The Great Wall Watch.
• Livestream spectators praised Lin Ye and urged the high-ranking challengers to attack his Instances, while Settlement Commanders condemned him.
• Lee Jae-yong and two million challengers were transported into The Great Wall Watch.
• The Firmament announced that Dragon Country was the Instance's enemy faction, alarming Lee Jae-yong and the Goryeo challengers.
• The Firmament displayed Dragon Country's location and described its territory, population, and administrative divisions.

The Firmament revealed Dragon Country’s immense population, richly detailed landscape, and eight thousand years of history to the Goryeo Challengers. As Dragon Country’s wars and heroes filled the Universe-sized projection, Lee Jae-yong’s hopes of quickly choosing a spawn point gave way to mounting pressure.

• The Firmament showed Dragon Country’s vast map and 1.4 billion people, stunning Lee Jae-yong and the spectators.
• Lee Jae-yong recognized the map’s meticulous detail as proof that Lin Ye had built a vast, carefully developed Instance.
• The Firmament announced that Dragon Country’s eight thousand years of history could affect the Challengers’ survival and began a detailed introduction.
• A Universe-wide projection showed Dragon Country’s historical wars and leaders, including King Wu, Ying Zheng, Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, Wei Qing, and Huo Qubing.
• The projection depicted the eras of conflict and change that forged Dragon Country and its present-day Great Wall Watch.

After Dragon Country offered the Koreans a chance to leave the Instance by surrendering all but one point, many accepted and were teleported out, while Lee Jae-yong urged the rest to stay and fight. The exit closed, and the spawn point selection stage began.

• The Firmament announced that Challengers could leave the Instance before battle, and Korean Challengers cheered while Lee Jae-yong argued against surrendering.
• Lee Jae-yong warned that surrender would make the Goryeo Settlement look weak and isolated, but the Koreans rejected his authority and argued over whether to leave.
• The Firmament set the price of leaving at all but one point, prompting many Koreans to surrender their points and exit the Instance.
• Lee Jae-yong told the remaining Challengers that Lin Ye would not spare them and ordered them to follow his command.
• The exit period ended with 1,900,000 Challengers remaining, and the Firmament began the spawn point selection stage.

The Firmament revealed thirty spawn points for The Great Wall Watch, and Lee Jae-yong decided that most were unsuitable for an attack on Dragon Country. Rejecting land warfare and choosing a location where he could rely on aerial combat, he selected Stick Country as his spawn point.

• The Firmament introduced thirty spawn points, giving the Challengers a wide range of locations across Earth Online.
• Lee Jae-yong studied the choices and concluded that only six were practical bases for attacking Dragon Country.
• Lee Jae-yong ruled out Malaysia because he lacked land forces and remembered the Lee family's disastrous experience there.
• Lee Jae-yong decided to rely on Goryeo's aerial warfare and chose Stick Country as his spawn point.

Lee Jae-yong took command of the Stick Country Instance and reviewed Dragon Country’s military deployment and mission options. He rejected the difficult goal of occupying a region and chose to annihilate one of Dragon Country’s military forces.

• Lee Jae-yong declined to split the Challengers and sent them to three locations in Stick Country: the Black House, Jeju Island Naval Base, and Bird Island Air Force Base.
• Lee Jae-yong found himself in the Black House presidential office and saw that 500,000 Challengers had spawned there, while 700,000 were at each of the other two bases.
• The Firmament displayed Dragon Country’s military organization and introduced missions to destroy one of its military forces or occupy a region and force its cession.
• Lee Jae-yong dismissed the regional occupation mission as too difficult and chose mission 1.

Lee Jae-yong planned a blitzkrieg against the North Sea Fleet, choosing its three naval bases as targets for an air assault. He was interrupted by a call from Eagle Sauce Country, whose president offered to sell him military equipment for points.

• Lee Jae-yong reviewed the forces available to him and decided to use a fast, direct attack to destroy one of Dragon Country’s armies.
• Lee Jae-yong chose the North Sea Fleet because its three bases were close to Stick Country and planned to bomb them with his air force.
• Lee Jae-yong avoided using the army because reaching Dragon Country by land would require crossing North Stick Country.
• The president of Eagle Sauce Country called Lee Jae-yong and offered military assistance in exchange for points.
• Lee Jae-yong was surprised to learn that he could purchase weapons from Eagle Sauce Country, with discounts available for bulk orders.

Lee Jae-yong discovered that Eagle Sauce Country would sell weapons to help him fight Dragon Country, and tested the purchase system by buying an M4A1 rifle. After confirming the weapon was real, he prepared to order more advanced arms.

• Lee Jae-yong asked Eagle Sauce Country to send troops against Dragon Country, but Mr. Eagle Sauce refused and said it would provide only military assistance.
• Mr. Eagle Sauce sent Lee Jae-yong a weapons list with prices and explained that purchases would be delivered to designated bases.
• Lee Jae-yong learned that Lin Ye had created the weapons marketplace to earn points and drain Challengers’ points, using surplus or defective virtual weapons encrypted against technology theft.
• Lee Jae-yong bought an M4A1 rifle for 2,000 points, and it appeared in his office the next second.
• Lee Jae-yong examined the rifle, confirmed it was real, and decided to buy more expensive weapons.

Lee Jae-yong decided that Lin Ye’s weapons shop gave the Challengers a chance to win, and risked nearly all his points on a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. His purchase inspired the Challengers at the three bases to pool their points and prepare to fight Lin Ye.

• Lee Jae-yong examined Lin Ye’s weapons list and chose to buy an aircraft carrier despite the enormous cost and risk of losing his points.
• Lee Jae-yong urged the Challengers at the Black House, Jizhou Island Naval Base, and Bird Island Air Force Base to spend their points on weapons.
• When Challengers demanded that Lee Jae-yong prove his commitment, he decided to go all in and bought a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier for two million points.
• The carrier appeared off Jizhou Island Naval Base, stunning the Challengers and convincing many of them to contribute their points toward buying more weapons.
• The Challengers began pooling their points and called for Lin Ye’s defeat.

Lee Jae-yong gathered 115 million points from the Korean Challengers and spent them on a massive Eagle Sauce arsenal, expecting to dominate the Instance. He discovered that much of the equipment was defective, and the Firmament rejected his complaint, leaving him to count what remained usable.

• Lee Jae-yong saw that the Koreans had raised 115 million points and believed he could use the weapons shop's low prices to build an overwhelming force.
• Lee Jae-yong bought aircraft carriers, fighters, bombers, and other weapons from Eagle Sauce for a joint naval and air operation.
• Reports from Jizhou Island Naval Base and Bird Island Air Force Base revealed that many purchased weapons were sunk, rusty, damaged, or unusable.
• Lee Jae-yong called Eagle Sauce Country to complain, but the number could not be reached, so he smashed his phone in anger.
• Lee Jae-yong appealed to the Firmament, which ruled the voluntary purchases fair and warned that Eagle Sauce Country was treacherous.
• Lee Jae-yong ordered both military bases to count exactly how many weapons were usable.

Lee Jae-yong inspected the weapons bought through the Instance and prepared a large force to attack Dragon Country, convinced he could defeat Lin Ye. After a day of preparation, his army advanced toward Qindao Naval Base, and Lee Jae-yong put a multi-pronged feint-and-strike strategy into motion.

• Lee Jae-yong reviewed the Eagle Sauce weapons, recognized that many were defective, and decided his expanded arsenal was still powerful enough to challenge Dragon Country.
• Lee Jae-yong ordered the Challengers to spend one day learning to use the weapons before marching on Dragon Country, while livestream viewers and Hero Ranking leaders debated Lin Ye’s motives and the risks of the battle.
• After a day, Lee Jae-yong’s army set out from Stick Country with four aircraft carriers, more than a hundred warships, and tens of thousands of fighter planes.
• Lee Jae-yong named the carriers Goryeo, Li, Tai, and Rong, then planned to use ten formations of Black Hawk fighters to draw Dragon Country’s forces away before bombing its three naval bases.

Lee Jae-yong prepared a surprise attack on Dragon Country, ordering ten air formations to scatter across the country while the main fleet rushed toward Qin Island. As his forces acknowledged the plan, Dragon Country’s military signal broke into the Challenger communications channel, leaving Lee Jae-yong stunned by the national anthem.

• Lee Jae-yong judged Dragon Country too strong for a direct clash and planned to declare war just before crossing its territorial boundary.
• Lee Jae-yong ordered ten air formations to attack targets across Dragon Country while the remaining forces raced toward Qin Island.
• The air formations acknowledged their orders, but an unexpected North Sea Fleet response appeared on the communications channel.
• Lee Jae-yong demanded to know who had infiltrated the channel and tried to identify the signal’s source.
• Static and military music flooded the channel, and Lee Jae-yong recognized the song as the lyrics of Dragon Country’s national anthem.

Lee Jae-yong discovered that Dragon Country had intercepted the Challengers’ communications and detected their planned attack, prompting the Firmament to rule Dragon Country’s strike justified self-defense. As Lee Jae-yong tried to organize a defense, missiles hit the aircraft carrier Li and sent it sinking beneath the waves.

• Lee Jae-yong spotted a Dragon Country ship near the fleet and realized it had been interfering with the Challengers’ communications.
• The white ship disappeared into sea fog, and Firmament notifications revealed that Dragon Country had detected the planned attack and was sending its forces to intercept the fleet.
• Lee Jae-yong protested that the Instance was unfair, but the Firmament ruled that Dragon Country’s actions in international waters were permitted and its preemptive strike was justified self-defense.
• Lee Jae-yong canceled the planned sneak attack and ordered the Challengers to battle stations, believing their carriers and larger fleet could defeat Dragon Country’s first arriving squadron.
• Before Lee Jae-yong finished his orders, missiles struck the aircraft carrier Li, setting it ablaze and sinking it.

Lee Jae-yong’s Goryeo fleet was destroyed by Dragon Country’s missile strike before it could mount a counterattack. After Lee died, the chapter explained how the Type 055 Destroyer’s YJ-21 missiles made it an aircraft carrier killer.

• Lee Jae-yong watched one of his aircraft carriers sink and ordered his forces to locate the enemy and launch a counterattack.
• A Challenger detected sixteen Dragon Country Type 055 Destroyers a thousand nautical miles away, beyond the Goryeo fleet’s attack range.
• Sixteen missiles struck the Rong, sinking another aircraft carrier, as Lee saw thousands of Dragon Country missiles fill the sky.
• Dragon Country’s missiles hit the Goryeo fleet within seconds, destroying its ships and killing Lee Jae-yong.
• Firmament announced Lee’s death and switched him to spectator mode, while the chapter explained the Type 055 Destroyers’ YJ-21 anti-ship ballistic missiles.

Dragon Country’s 16 Type 055 destroyers destroyed Lee Jae-yong’s fleet, then its Dongfeng-51 missile barrage wiped out Goryeo’s air force. The Instance ended with every Challenger dead before any of them reached Dragon Country’s territorial waters.

• The Type 055 destroyers sank Lee Jae-yong’s fleet, killing the Challengers and leaving only a smoking Ford-class carrier afloat.
• Lee Jae-yong remained in the Instance as a spectator after his death and watched Dragon Country turn its attention to Goryeo’s disorganized air force.
• The Type 055 destroyers retreated while attacking Goryeo’s fighters, using radar and shared intelligence to track their positions.
• Dragon Country launched Dongfeng-51 missiles from its coastline, and their nuclear warheads destroyed the remaining fighter formations.
• The Firmament declared the Instance over after all Challengers died, and spectators reacted to Dragon Country’s rapid victory.

After the Korean Challenger faction was annihilated by Dragon Country's military, the Instance rated their performance E and imposed a 20,000-point penalty. Since none of the Challengers had enough points to pay it, the Firmament announced that everyone in the Instance would be wiped out.

• Sixteen Dragon Country destroyers and an electronic reconnaissance ship destroyed the Korean force, leaving 1.9 million Challengers as spectators awaiting settlement.
• Lee Jae-yong realized Lin Ye had sold him Eagle Sauce weapons to make points, since they were ineffective against Dragon Country.
• The Firmament announced the graded scoring system and awarded the Challenger faction an E rating for its poor performance.
• The E rating imposed a 20,000-point deduction on every Challenger, exceeding the point reserves of all those in the Instance.
• The Firmament announced that all Challengers in the Instance would be wiped out immediately.

The Firmament crushed 1.9 million challengers when Lin Ye’s The Great Wall Watch ended, devastating the South Korea Settlement and alarming the other Settlements. Great Xia’s leaders celebrated the victory as their forces continued attacking Korean Instances, while the other Settlements reconsidered opposing Great Xia.

• The Firmament eliminated 1.9 million challengers and ended The Great Wall Watch with a 95% elimination rate and no survivors among those who remained.
• Viewers reacted with shock, and top Hero Ranking figures including Fulangche, George, Brahma, and Arthur left the livestream without comment.
• The Instance Research Center in Great Xia celebrated Lin Ye’s victory and the concurrent attacks by Great Xia challengers on Korean Instances.
• Li Yunlong told Bai Tianhao that the victory had avenged Great Xia, frightened the Koreans, and deterred the other Settlements from opposing them.

After the Great Xia Settlement’s victory over the South Koreans, Li Yunlong explained how Lin Ye’s strategy could keep the other Settlements from joining forces against them. Lin Ye received the settlement for The Great Wall Watch and discovered that selling weapons had opened a new source of points.

• Li Yunlong told Bai Tianhao that the Great Xia Settlement should enter another Settlement’s Instance first and exploit the rival Settlements’ conflicting interests.
• Li Yunlong celebrated the Great Xia Settlement’s victory with Bai Tianhao, lamenting that Old Master Long, Deng Xian, Qian Sen, and the others had missed Lin Ye’s victory.
• Lin Ye continued designing the Xuannü Aerospace Fighter in Creation Space, bringing its technology to 50% completion.
• The Firmament announced that no one had cleared The Great Wall Watch and that Lin Ye had maintained his record of total victories.
• The Firmament awarded Lin Ye 1.99 million points from Instance missions and began calculating his share of 117 million points earned from weapon sales.

Lin Ye earned 9.2 million points and rose to ninth place on the Hero Ranking, making the Great Xia Settlement the first in Azure Star to have two people in the top ten. Seeing that most of the leaders of the settlements preparing to besiege Great Xia ranked above Long Yuan, Lin Ye resolved to challenge them through The Great Wall Watch.

• Lin Ye received 8.8 million points from The Great Wall Watch and earned another 400,000 points from his Raging Waves and Winter Is Coming investments, for a daily total of 9.2 million.
• Lin Ye checked the Hero Ranking and discovered he had climbed sixteen places to rank ninth, while Sam ranked tenth.
• Lin Ye recognized that his rise could improve life in the Great Xia Settlement and deter the eight settlements planning to attack it.
• Lin Ye saw that most of the Commanders ranked above Long Yuan belonged to the besieging settlements and thought of Ding Chang, whom he had promised to see him reach the top of the ranking.
• Lin Ye considered defeating those Commanders as a way to reduce their point totals and grew eager to face them in The Great Wall Watch.

Lin Ye considered which Settlement to challenge next and watched The Great Wall Watch climb the Firmament rankings. After it earned him a rare Settlement Absolution Card, he saved the card for a future crisis.

• Lin Ye weighed choosing the South Korea, Dahe, Gaul, India, Triumph, or United States Settlement for his next Instance, then decided to target whoever provoked him most.
• Lin Ye saw The Great Wall Watch reach second place on the Instance Heavenly Ranking, putting his three Instances in the top three.
• The Firmament awarded Lin Ye a one-day Settlement Absolution Card, which could shield a Settlement’s residents from Instances and selection by Dungeon Designers.
• Lin Ye decided not to use the rare card yet because Great Xia had not reached a crisis severe enough to warrant it.
• Lin Ye noticed The Great Wall Watch had topped several other rankings, including both the single-run wipeout and Instance-Friendly Peace rankings.